


Chasing the Seeker

by achillese



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, M/M, Quidditch, Sports
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-09
Updated: 2013-03-09
Packaged: 2017-12-04 19:38:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/714326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/achillese/pseuds/achillese
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael stumbles across an online fundraising campaign for the college Muggle Quidditch team to help them raise money so they can go to this year's World Cup Championship in Florida. Donating $35 wins you a date with a team member of your choosing, and Adam Milligan, the team's Seeker, just so happens to be up for grabs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chasing the Seeker

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by my own university's efforts to fundraise money for the team.

The link had popped up on Michael’s Facebook newsfeed courtesy of Michael’s brother Castiel. Michael hadn’t planned on clicking the link – Cas was always posting fundraising things for their college’s Muggle Quidditch team, and Michael figured brotherly support was more than enough – but then the description that Cas had typed up caught his eye:

_Donate $35 to help us raise money for new Quidditch equipment and you can take advantage of our limited time offer: a date with one of five of our star Quidditch players._

A date. A date for $35 with one of the Quidditch players. How desperate were they for money? Michael shook his head, chuckling a little to himself, at the idea of these poor five bastards willing to put themselves out there to make a little money for their team. Some would’ve thought it noble, but Michael just thought it was foolish. In fact, he was already moving his finger along the trackpad of his Mac to click out of Facebook altogether and go do his homework when the door to the room opened with a bang and Michael’s roommate walked in, fresh out of his afternoon class.

“The weather’s shit,” Dean Winchester grumbled as he heaved his backpack onto his unmade bed and collapsed next to it, kicking his sneakers off. “It started raining and snowing at the same time. If I were you, I wouldn’t bother going to class.”

“I don’t have an afternoon class on Mondays, remember?” Michael asked without looking away from his laptop screen. “And besides, that’d be a waste of an absence.”

Dean grumbled something incoherent as he pushed his shoes under his bed and got up to walk into the kitchen and fix himself his usual afternoon snack when he saw the Facebook post over Michael’s shoulder. 

“That Quidditch thing has been getting them a lot of money,” Dean commented. “Sammy’s the Keeper and he’s already been paid for multiple times. He’s got five dates next week, lucky sonofabitch.” 

Michael had almost forgotten Dean’s younger brother was on the team. “Who else is listed for bidding?” he asked.

Dean leaned against the doorframe, eyes to the ceiling as he tried to recall the list of victims. “Two of them I don’t know, but then there’s Jo Harvelle, Kevin Tran, and Adam.”

Michael turned around in his seat. “Your half brother Adam?”

Dean nodded. “Yeah, he’s the team Seeker. Haven’t heard if he’s gotten any dates yet but he should’ve. He’s got those Winchester good looks after all.”

Michael rolled his eyes as Dean finally ducked into the kitchen, but the gears in his brain were turning slowly. Adam Milligan was available for a date. Dean Winchester’s forbidden younger half brother had put himself on the list of eligible bachelors for a Quidditch fundraiser – forbidden in the sense that Dean would probably throw Michael down the trash chute if he found out that his roommate was interested in Adam at all. There were certain unspoken boundaries that had been set up between the two of them at the beginning of the semester, and Michael could just inherently tell that expressing interest in Adam would cross that boundary. 

The same could be said for Dean, whom Michael had heard was keen on getting close to Castiel but, as far as Michael knew, hadn’t done anything about it. Apparently, harboring crushes on each other’s brothers was off-limits. 

And yet, herein was a loophole. Michael could just claim to be supporting the Quidditch team and donate the $35 and just _happen_ to pick Adam because...because why? Because he wanted to get to know the sophomore better? Because he wanted to just hang out with his roommate’s youngest brother? Michael hoped that would be a good enough excuse to get by Dean if his roommate found out. 

He clicked on the Facebook link, which redirected him to a site that looked like Kickstarter, and hovered over the ‘contribute’ button. There was a space for him to type out the amount he wanted to contribute, and he changed the default ‘$0.00’ to ‘$35.00’ and scrolled down to where he could select the perk he’d like – anything from the 0 to 35-dollar range, and there it was: _date with a Quidditch player_. 11 people had already claimed their dates, and for a moment Michael stared at the double-digit number, wondering if any of those were for Adam. 

With a quick look over his shoulder to make sure Dean wasn’t hovering behind him, Michael clicked the box marked _date with a Quidditch player_ and then clicked ‘select’ to pay. No turning back now.

\---

The next day Michael received an email from Castiel, informing him of the details of the perk he’d selected. The $35 was good for one hour-long coffee date with the player of Michael’s choice, but if both parties wanted the date to continue past the allotted hour, there was nothing wrong with that. Castiel just needed to know which player Michael wanted to choose and he’d figure out the details from there.

An hour after Michael had replied with Adam’s name, Castiel called him on Skype. 

“I’m in a private study room in the library right now,” Castiel told him the minute Michael put on his headphones and accepted his call. “I just got your email. Adam Milligan? Are you sure?”

“What do you mean by that?” Michael asked, voice low, as Dean was in the kitchen eating as usual.

“I mean, are you prepared for the repercussions if Dean finds out you paid for a date with his youngest brother?”

“Dean’s always talking about how Adam probably gets lots of dates all the time.”

“Yes, but none of those dates would’ve been with his roommate.”

“He’s not gonna get _mad_ , Cas.”

“You know for sure?”

“Yeah, pretty sure.”

Castiel sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “...Fine, I’ll let Adam know who his date is. You two will be going to the Starbucks on Marwick Street at five o’clock tomorrow night. Does that work for you?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Thanks for setting this all up, Cas.”

“You’re welcome. Good luck tomorrow.”

\---

Michael knew why Adam of all people was the Seeker for the Quidditch team: he was tall with long legs and, though he wasn’t bursting with muscle, he was lithe and packed with tons of stamina, which was good for running after the Snitch. He noticed Adam almost as soon as the sophomore walked into the Starbucks shop, bundled up in his jacket and scarf from the chilly March evening. Adam hadn’t spotted Michael yet, so the senior waved until he did. Michael was relieved to see a smile form on Adam’s face as he made a beeline for the table where Michael was sitting, a cup of coffee already waiting for each of them.

(Castiel had detailed that whoever paid for the perk would also pay for the date, and even told Michael Adam’s preferred coffee order so they didn’t have to waste time waiting in line together to get drinks.)

“Hey Michael,” Adam greeted as he shucked off his coat onto the back of the empty chair in front of him and started to unwrap his green scarf. “Hope you weren’t waiting long.”

“Not at all. Only a minute or two. The drinks are still hot.” In an effort not to let an awkward silence descend on them so soon, Michael indicated the green scarf. “So, is that supposed to be a Slytherin scarf, or do you just like the color green?”

Adam laughed and sat down. “I just like green. Now that you mention it though, I did get put into Slytherin the second time I signed up for Pottermore.”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “The _second_ time? Why’d you sign up again?”

“Because I got put into Gryffindor the first time and I wanted to see if that Sorting Hat was accurate. The third time I signed up I got put into Ravenclaw, so I’m calling bullshit on that whole website.”

Michael chuckled and took a sip of the hot chocolate he’d ordered for himself. “Where do you think you’d belong?”

Adam copied Michael’s actions and took a sip of his own drink, deep in thought. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand quickly before answering, “I dunno. I mean, as a kid I just always thought Gryffindor. Harry’s House, right? Who wouldn’t wanna be there?” Adam fiddled with his own fingers on the tabletop. “What about you?”

“Never really thought about it too much,” Michael admitted. “I usually just took those random quizzes on the Internet and let them decide for me.”

“And?”

“And I’ve been Sorted into every House at least twice.”

They both laughed, and slowly Michael could feel more of his nervousness lifting away. He took another sip of his drink and his eyes zeroed in on a lightly colored scar that ran across Adam’s exposed forearm. 

“What happened there?” Michael asked, pointing.

Adam rotated his arm to look at where Michael’s attention was concentrated and smiled a bit. “Quidditch practice last semester. The Snitch tried climbing up a metal fence, so I followed. I didn’t see the barbed wire.”

Michael winced. “Sounds like a rough game.”

Adam nodded emphatically. “It really is. You should’ve seen the World Cup last year. Couple people from other teams had to get wheeled away on stretchers. Another player lost a tooth.”

“Shit.”

Adam laughed. “Yeah, people are always surprised when they hear how brutal of a sport it is. I think they just assume it’s a bunch of skinny nerdy weaklings running around on brooms, but we’re a pretty vicious bunch.”

“Do the Beaters really attack other players?”

“Yeah. It’s like dodgeball. They can throw the Bludgers at you whenever they want.”

“I’m guessing it hurts when you get hit.”

“If they’re good Beaters, yeah, it can hurt like a bitch. They’ve got to have strong arms.”

“What about you?” Michael asked. “I mean, as a Seeker. What do you need?”

Adam drummed his fingertips on the table. “A little of everything, I guess. Speed, obviously, to keep up with the Snitch. Agility to get around obstacles, because trust me, there’s plenty of those. Stamina to run for an insanely long amount of time. And probably patience because these games can go on forever.”

“I’ve never seen one,” Michael admitted, shrugging apologetically.

Adam’s blue eyes widened. “Dude, you gotta come to our next scrimmage. Seriously, even just watching is a ton of fun. You get to see a bunch of college kids run around with brooms between their legs and beat the crap out of each other for fun and sportsmanship and whatnot.”

Michael laughed – really laughed. He was enjoying himself so far, and from the happy look on Adam’s face, he could tell the Seeker was, too. Maybe this had been a good idea after all. 

They talked even more after that about whatever subject popped up, ranging from Adam’s classes to Michael’s senior year colloquium coming up in a month, and finally when the hour was up and an alarm rang on Adam’s phone to signal the end of the date session, he could physically feel the despair at already catching up to the allotted time span. He knew of course that if they wanted to continue the date there was nothing holding them back, but Michael wasn’t sure if Adam would want to keep going. 

“Hour’s up,” Adam announced as he turned the alarm on his phone off and put it back in his jeans pocket.

Michael fiddled with the plastic lid on his emptied cup. “That went by pretty quickly,” he commented, trying to hide his disappointment. 

“It did. I hadn’t expected it to. Guess this is what these speed dating things feel like.”

Michael looked up and caught Adam’s eye. “This is the first of these you’ve been on?”

Adam chuckled. “This is the _only_ one I think I’ll be on. Nobody else paid for a date for me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why? I’m not.”

“You’re not?”

“No, because then I don’t feel weird about asking if you’d like to do this again,” Adam said, smooth as silk, leaning forward with his arms folded on the table, a half smile on his face. 

Michael’s pulse skyrocketed. “I-I’m Dean’s roommate. I’m not sure if he’d be okay with—”

“He knows already,” Adam interrupted.

“He – what?”

“Cas told him you were my paid date tonight.”

Michael sighed. _Damnit, Cas._

Adam continued. “He’s fine with it. He just asked if we end up dating to please not do anything in your guys’ room.” Michael coughed and blushed pink but Adam was grinning good-naturedly. “So, I mean, if you wanna do this again...I wouldn’t be opposed.”

It occurred to Michael right then that Adam was just as nervous about this situation as he was. Sure, the sophomore exuded more confidence than Michael had, but suddenly Michael could see that it was just a shell to protect himself in case Michael turned him away or just decided to get up and leave, neither of which were things he was thinking of doing at all. 

Michael stretched his hand out across the small table and linked his fingers with Adam’s. “I’d love to do this again. And again. And again.”

Adam grinned and Michael was fairly confident this was the best $35 he’d ever spent.


End file.
